A 2026 gift guide for Whovians

On October 29, 1966, the First Doctor collapsed on the floor of the TARDIS and his face turned into Patrick Troughton's. William Hartnell's health was failing, and the BBC wanted the show to go on without him, so the writers came up with a way for the Doctor to change bodies. The show called it "renewal" at first, and the word "regeneration" didn't turn up until 1974. The episode itself, part four of The Tenth Planet, was wiped by the BBC in 1969, and only about 30 seconds survive, including the transformation. This Thursday is its 60th anniversary.

Here's a wishlist for a Doctor Who fan: a sonic screwdriver and the scarf, a lost 1966 story, music, audio dramas and a book, two places to go, and a TARDIS. It runs from a DVD and a paperback up to a life-size TARDIS (a fan-built one sold at auction in 2017 for £3,200), with $30 museum tickets, a hand-knit scarf and a convention weekend in between. Pick the items you want with "Add to wishlist," or take the whole list with the button at the bottom:

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The sonic and the scarf

The sonic screwdriver first showed up in 1968, in Troughton's Fury from the Deep. In 1982 a Terileptil smashed it in The Visitation, and producer John Nathan-Turner kept it off the show for the rest of the original run, because a device that could help in any situation was "very limiting for the script". It came back briefly in the 1996 TV movie and for good in 2005. This replica is David Tennant's, with blue lights and buzzing sound effects that run off three button batteries.

For Tom Baker's scarf, costume designer James Acheson reportedly bought a pile of multicolored wool and asked a knitter, Begonia Pope, to make one, and she used all of it. Fans' mothers wrote in asking how to make one, and the BBC mailed back instructions: camel, rust, bronze, mustard, grey, green and purple, on size four needles.

The lost story

The Power of the Daleks was Troughton's first story. It started airing on November 5, 1966, a week after the regeneration, and all six episodes were lost when the BBC wiped its archives. They're among the 97 First and Second Doctor episodes still missing. In 2016 the BBC animated the whole story, working from audio that fans recorded off their TVs during the broadcast and telesnaps, which are photos taken of the screen. A 2020 Special Edition has redone animation, but it's a Region 2 disc that won't play on most US players, so the list has the US DVD.

WishPoster's ranking of the Doctors

Troughton was the first actor to take the part over from someone else, and more than a dozen have had it since. Here's WishPoster's official ranking:

1. David Tennant
2. Tom Baker
3. Matt Smith
4. Peter Capaldi
5. Patrick Troughton

As for the next one, the BBC cancelled this year's Christmas special, Russell T Davies has left, and the show is out to tender.

The theme, the audio and the book

Delia Derbyshire made the 1963 theme at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop before there were synthesizers to make it on. She built each note by cutting, splicing, speeding up and slowing down pieces of tape, starting from a plucked string, white noise and test-tone oscillators. When Ron Grainer, who wrote the tune, heard it, he reportedly asked "Did I write that?" and she answered "Most of it." BBC Radiophonic Workshop 21 is a 1979 compilation with her theme on it, and Silva Screen reissued it on lilac vinyl in 2016.

Big Finish has made official Doctor Who audio dramas since The Sirens of Time in 1999, and its licence was renewed through 2035. Tom Baker turned Big Finish down for years before he signed on for his own series.

The Writer's Tale is the emails Russell T Davies traded with journalist Benjamin Cook while he was running the show. The Final Chapter adds more than 300 pages covering his last year, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and David Tennant's final episodes.

Places to go

Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder is at the Comic-Con Museum in San Diego, and it was extended through January 14, 2027. It has eight zones of props, sets and behind-the-scenes material, a Monster Vault with Cybermen and Weeping Angels, and a booth where you can try sounding like a Dalek. Kids 6 to 12 get in for $12.

Chicago TARDIS is a Doctor Who convention at the Westin Chicago Lombard, November 27 to 29 this year.

The TARDIS

A fan named Jason Onion built a life-size TARDIS out of reclaimed oak for the show's 50th anniversary in 2013. It weighed a ton, and it sold at Canterbury Auction Galleries for £3,200 in 2017. The police box shape belongs to the BBC, legally: it registered the design as a trademark in 2002, over objections from the Metropolitan Police.

In conclusion

The list above copies straight into a new WishPoster list with the Time Vortex theme: a spiral tunnel of light with clocks flying out of it. Or start one from scratch for the Whovian in your house.